7 ways to charge your ipod without power

I cam across this link through a twitter link yesterday which listed the 7 best ways to charge the iPod without using any grid electricity! They are actually pretty cool…  They are:

  • Play with a yo-yo. Yes, the iYo-yo charger will generate power from a tiny battery that’s charged as you yo.
  • Use portable solar power. There are more portable solar power chargers than ever—snag one like the Solio Solar Charger to power your iPod.
  • Swing a pretend golf club. Ecofriend reports that you can find a faux golf club that will charge and store energy every time you swing it, which you can then use to power your iPod.
  • Crank away. It’s actually sort of surprising how many hand crank chargers have emerged in recent years—and many will handily (hello, bad pun) power your iPod.
  • Hit the dance floor. This one might seem ridiculous, if it wasn’t preceded by a fake golf club and a yo-yo charger…but it is indeed true—Orange is set to unveil a dance charger that will generate power as you groove.
  • Do grip exercises. If you’re doing hand workouts to fight carpel tunnel syndrome, or you’d just like to work up to a firmer handshake, kill two birds with one stone with this strange hand exercise iPod charger.
  • Harness wind power. A really tiny amount of wind power, that is—but that’s all it’ll take to keep the juice to your iPod flowing. This Mini Kin Green Generator is a really cool example, even if it costs around $5
    • I do have an iPod nano and would be interested in buying one of these…  Does anyone have price insights on them?  You never know, we can actually shop our way to eliminating all chargers for electronics one day.  Just imagine exchange your 10+ chargers (that aren’t interchangable) with 10+ hand crank ones =p

    Tags: ,

    categories Climate change gadget | flo | datetime March 13, 2009 6:48 am

    9 Comments

    • By Jay, March 14, 2009 @ 11:30 am

      I don’t have an iPod (well I have a gen 4 but its battery died). I do have a solar charger that I bought in Taiwan:
      http://www.samyatech.com.tw/eportal/modules/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=68
      Like you hinted, the problem with recharging an iPod, or any electronic devices, is its proprietary connector. Motorola is one of the few companies that uses standard mini-USB for power and data. In the cellphone market I heard there’s an agreement among major phone makers to adopt a standard interface. I wish the laptop manufacturers would follow suit.

    • By flo, March 16, 2009 @ 11:54 am

      Thanks Jay for your link! Standard interface would be nice! How do you like your solar battery charger? Can you provide some insights on the usefulness of the charger? I’d love to hear more!

    • By Jay, March 16, 2009 @ 3:50 pm

      This charger comes with a bunch of adapters (like 10!) for cellphones but nothing for the iPod. I end up using it with an LED lamp:
      https://secure.i-toolkit.com/www_logiix_net/itoolkit.asp?pg=products&specific=jnnoqrg4
      So essentially it extends sunlight to the night (though not exactly the same spectrum ..)

    • By flo, March 16, 2009 @ 11:18 pm

      How long would it take to charge your cell phone? The LED lamp is quite nice =p, and luckily only needs a little bit of power!!

    • By Tracy, March 21, 2009 @ 6:11 am

      I like the Yo-Yo charger and would like to get one if it’s in the market ^ ^

    • By flo, March 22, 2009 @ 11:21 pm

      Yes, I like the yoyo charger the most too.. haha.. and it is on the market now!!!

    • By Tracy, March 29, 2009 @ 6:21 pm

      Is it on the market? you know how much is it? Didnt see it in Taiwan.

    • By flo, April 3, 2009 @ 6:29 am

      i guess they’re not really commercialized yet, just concepts right now…. =p

    • By Shopping Deals, May 18, 2009 @ 12:49 am

      Yes, I like yoyo charger the most too.

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